Trailer conventionsBy Zahra Mohamadi

Trailers are designed to send particular messages to audiences about a film. You will notice certain
conventions recur in most trailers and this activity helps you to analyze the purpose of some of
these. Choose a trailer and complete the following tasks:

CONVENTIONS IDEAS

Film title Crawl-

When does it appear?
How many seconds in?
Credits
Who is credited? Why?
Stars
Who are they? What else have
you seen them in?
Appeared for four seconds at the end of the trailer.
The production company of the film is credited Crawl
Productions
The trailer doesnt credit characters or its distribution
company because they arent as popular and have
appeared in very few films previously.
George Shevtsov- appeared in Japanese Story and Crawl
as his latest film.
Georgina Haig- appeared in Road Kill and The Sapphires
and The Mule as her latest film.
Bob Newman- appeared in Swimming Upstream, Glenn
Owen Dodds, Crawl is his latest film.

Crime. Thriller
The location is set in a rural town area.
Genre Thriller conventions can be told because it has intense
What type of film does it seem built up moments through the use of music and actions.
to be? How can you tell this? Murder is also involved.
It is crime because the mysterious old man is hired for
murder.
Timing 1:41 seconds
How long is the trailer? Is it a A full theatrical trailer.
teaser (10 seconds), a TV spot
(30 seconds) or full theatrical
trailer (2 minutes)?
1. Watch the trailer once, WITHOUT the sound (either turn the volume to zero or switch off
your speakers).
2. Now watch the trailer again, still WITHOUT the volume, pressing pause at points that
illustrate the visual features listed on the chart below. Make notes on your chart
explaining what you see in the frozen frames.
3. What do you think the sound would add to this trailer? How do you think it would help to
establish the genre? Can you easily establish the genre without the sound? If so, how?
4. Now watch the trailer once more, this time with the sound ON.
What does the sound add to your enjoyment of the trailer?
What does it add to your expectations of the film and its genre?
Explain your answers.